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The cost of living in the U.S. probably rose at a slower pace in March as increases in energy expenses subsided, economists said before a report this week.
Consumer prices advanced 0.3 percent after climbing 0.4 percent in February, according to the median of 58 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of the Labor […]

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono faces one of the biggest public protests of his seven- year leadership as a government plan to raise fuel prices stirs public anger, threatening efforts to contain the budget gap and strengthen Southeast Asia

Under a new deal between Metro transit and a mobile farmers market, riders can now shop for locally grown fruit, veggies, eggs and cheese at bus and train stops.
The roving farmers market will set up today at the Delmar Loop MetroLink station. Later in the week, it will move to Metro’s transit center at Riverview […]

Call it spring fever. For the third year in a row, optimism is spreading that growth in the United States could be poised to accelerate and drive the economy into sunnier pastures.
Claims for first-time jobless benefits dipped to a four-year low last week as layoffs slow. Factory output is steadily expanding. Retail sales have […]

Direct Energy is changing its water heater rental contracts and making it more expensive for customers to switch suppliers or buy their own units.
Right now, customers can remove rented water heaters any time at no cost. They may pay a $75 fee if they want Direct Energy to disconnect, remove and retrieve the tank.
But under […]

German industrial orders unexpectedly dropped 2.7 percent in January compared with the previous month due to an unusually low number of big-ticket orders and a sharp drop in demand from abroad, official data showed Wednesday.
Economists had predicted a small rise in orders following a 1.6 percent increase in December _ a figure that was revised […]

Food company Sara Lee Corp. said Friday that its shareholders will get stock valued at up to $4.55 billion when it spins off its international coffee and tea business later this year.
The coffee and tea business, which includes brands such as Senseo and Pickwick Teas, will also move its headquarters from Utrecht to Amsterdam in […]

Australian home-building approvals rose by less than economists forecast in January as weakness outside the resources industry hurts housing.
The number of permits granted to build or renovate houses and apartments gained 0.9 percent from December, when they dropped a revised 0.8 percent, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. The result compares with […]

Iran’s foreign minister has called for other countries to chose engagement over confrontation in resolving their differences over his nation’s nuclear program.
Ali Akbar Salehi told the U.N.-hosted Conference on Disarmament that “nuclear energy is not equated with nuclear weapons” and Iran has no intention to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Iran claims its nuclear program is […]

U.S. manufacturers are hiring at the fastest pace in more than a decade to keep up with new orders but sweeping technological advances could cost thousands of factory workers their jobs in years to come.
At a new factory in upstate New York, which is due to churn out its first computer chips this year, […]